The Sound of Wine

Our second to last stop on the European trip was Switzerland. Known as the neutral country (how many times have you found yourself not wanting to get into the middle of someone else's fight- I'm Switzerland). They are also one of the only countries in Europe to NOT belong to the European Union. This was slightly frustrating on our trip as we were so used to traveling between countries without border checks or even having to switch currencies. Not only did we have to go through a border, but we had to change our money into Swiss Francs. Normally this is no issue but when you're only there for a day, it's hard to determine how many Francs you really need!

The land of Sound of Music and the Alps and watches and knives and cheese, normally you don't think of Switzerland as a wine making country. I certainly didn't. Even the Swiss (my guide was Swiss) will admit their wine is terrible.

But of course I had to judge for myself. So on the day we were there, on a beautiful little boat that took us across the lake into Lucerne from our Gondola ride, I was the ONLY person on the entire boat to try Swiss wine.

Admittedly, I wondered what I was doing when no one, not even the Swiss, would drink the wine. But what kind of wine reviewer would I be if I didn't try? So I plunked down my 2 Euro and had myself a glass of Swiss Gamay.

And guess what? It wasn't bad! And that's saying a lot seeing as I had just had my fill of Italian wines. Maybe it was the high altitude or the fresh breeze across the blue and idyllic lake or maybe it was just me wanting to really like the wine, but I didn't mind it at all!

Now did I run back and have seconds? No. But I didn't have any issue finishing my glass and I did appreciate the romance of me drinking a nice glass of red wine (ignore that it was in a plastic cup) and drifting into the harbour of a mountain village (well, Lucerne isn't a village and there was a fair going on with boatloads of teenagers everywhere speaking very harsh German)- and holding hands with a hot European Man (sorry Karyn!!), my point being that the wine was just fine.

Now this was my only experience with wine in Switzerland that I remember. That night I ended up at a Sports Bar, an Irish Bar and a dance club but I'm pretty sure I didn't drink any more wine.

Oh and have I mentioned that  I spent the night in a Swiss jail? Sadly I have the pictures to prove it! Maybe the wine wasn't so good after all...

#4- Gamay

So I'm a little behind on my blogging about the wines but rest assured, I haven't fallen behind on drinking the wine! Part of the delay is getting the wine to my brother for him to try and make his opinion heard. I hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks so I had a whack of wine for him to try last night during our family event which happened to be watching the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. We are proud Canadians and wouldn't miss the ceremonies for the world. But I digress.

We also drank a lot of wine, the unofficial Stevenson Olympic sport. So not only did we have to try a new wine, but Craig had to catch up on two previous wines. First up was the Gamay.

The Gamay is a less popular grape though I have no idea why. It is freaking delicious. The wine is from a Canadian winery in Penticton, British Columbia. The winery is Hillside Estate and the wine itself is a 2007 Old Vines Gamay Noir. The wine cost me about $20 to purchase at Liquor on McLeod in Spruce Grove.

Eating alone, I paired the wine with some pasta and meat sauce with a strong cheese to bring out the flavours of the wine. And boy did it. The Gamay itself is a very smooth and creamy wine. Absolutely no aftertaste. It took all of my power to leave Craig any wine at all in this bottle. I could take the fruit in the wine especially the cherries. The bottle mentions that the wine is aged in french oak barrels (which I'm not usually a fan of) but I guess the oak was subtle enough that I enjoyed the wine.

It took Craig a few minutes to decide if he liked this wine. In all likelihood because we'd had several different kinds by the time I insisted he try the Gamay. He too appreciated that there was no aftertaste to the wine. Not usually a huge fan of the red wine, he gave it an overall thumbs up.

I too give the wine a thumbs up and in all likelihood will try some more Gamay from other regions such as the Beaujolais region in France.

The next wine up to taste: Merlot!